Tags

They Call Me Mr….No They Don’t

This is not a well thought out post over many days. There’s your warning.

Now, why do young people seem to no longer address those much older than they are as ‘Mr.’ or Mrs.’?

It could be an outright lack of respect for other human beings, regardless of age. Think gangsta mentality, or, the kids from your best friend who is a soccer mom, same result.

Then again, it could be the result of poor parenting. You know, the type of parents who want to be ‘friends’ with their children, rather than an actual parent with authority over their behinds, and the same authority to take their very lives.

I’m wondering because nowadays, it seems every Tom, Dick and Harry human, regardless of age, seems to think they have the freedom to call me by my first name.

Know what? I don’t like that.

It’s not a pride thing. I’m not itching for respect.

Here’s where I am coming from. When I was much, much younger, and my father wanted to get his point across to me, all he had to do was look at me in a certain way, and brother, I knew. I knew the man meant what he said, and would follow through with any threats of punishment he had made. There was no doubt or confusion on my part, there was no contemplating what if I did this or that and then maybe some other outcome would result. No, that is not the way life worked, back then. If he threatened you with punishment, he meant it, and it would be for my own good if I tested him and got what he promised.

These days, some teen walks across my yard, uninvited, and I’m working in my garden or mowing the lawn, and they just waltz along toward me and shout, “Hey, Joel!” and I admit the first reaction in my heart is, “This person has no respect for anothers property. What were his/her parents thinking? Why did they not beat this kids butt with a belt for such disrespect early on, so this day would never happen?”

But that’s nothing. The internet has made this situation far, far worse. No respect for those older, more mature in the Christian faith, has now flourished on individualistic steroids. No accountability to anyone.

On the ‘net, where people have no idea how old you are, how much life experience you may have or how holy you may be in the Christian faith – oh my word. There are no longer boundaries that subdue disrespect, contempt, and outright slander of others.

The internet has made disrespect – read, ungodliness – a common thing, even within the Christian community. I should say, within the visible Christian community, which, of course, is not necessarily the Church of Jesus Christ.

Regardless, the internet has made sinning against others much, much easier, and showing disrespect for one’s elders even more so.

I wish it were not so, but alas.

In the meantime, if you are younger than I by many years, glorify God by showing respect to your elder, and call me Mr. If you don’t know how old I am, ask. I’ll tell you gladly.